Credit

Caption

White rat astronaut. A white rat used by NASA in a sub-orbital spaceflight on 3 September 1964. The rat is apparently mounted in a fibre-glass couch, which has ventilation holes drilled in it. Public outrage at the cruel treatment of experimental animals by NASA reached a peak after the Bios-3 mission in 1969. This ended the Biosatellite programme, which was to have included two flights carrying rodents into orbit.